SRINAGAR (KASHMIR), 15 (DPA/EP)
More than 200 people have died and dozens more are missing due to torrential rains that have fallen in recent days in Indian-controlled Kashmir and northern Pakistan, according to preliminary figures.
At least 176 people have died and 23 have been injured in the past 24 hours, according to the latest data from Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority. The Press Trust of India, meanwhile, reported that at least 60 people have died and more than 100 have been injured in Jammu and Kashmir, India's northernmost region.
Local police and other agencies are conducting search and rescue operations in the Kishtwar region of India, about 200 kilometers from the capital, Srinagar, and in the hardest-hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Authorities estimate dozens of people remain buried under the rubble in India.
Among other sources of concern is an area near the remote town of Chositi, now buried under a mixture of water, earth, and rocks, where hundreds of pilgrims worshipping a Hindu deity had flocked. Chositi is eight kilometers from the temple and is only accessible on foot.
